Custody centres ‘under-resourced’

Police Scotland custody centres are “phenomenally under-resourced” with officers still experiencing long delays, MSPS have been told.

Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), told Holyrood’s Justice Sub-committee on Policing that officers remain “remarkably frustrated” with custody arrangements.

Mr Steele said correspondence with his members suggested the issue of long waits “seems to be getting worse rather than better” due to a lack of resources and increased bureaucracy created by the new Criminal Justice Act. He cited an example of a three-hour delay experienced by officers in Glasgow in February and another occasion where a handcuffed prisoner was waiting “an inordinate length of time” in the back of a van. Mr Steele said that “despite being handcuffed that prisoner was able to set himself on fire” and serious injury was only prevented by the quick action of the officers.

Local policing officers having to deal with increasingly frustrated and irate prisoners was “not something that the police service should be proud of ”, he added.